ABC Election Coverage: 2005 West Australian Election

Armadale

East Metropolitan Region

Safe Labor 6.6%

MP

Alannah MacTiernan (ALP) since 1996. Minister for Planning and Infrastructure

Profile

Suburban electorate on the south-eastern edge of the metropolitan area, including the suburbs of Westfield, Kelmscott, Armadale, Brookdale and Forrestdale. Covers 94 square kilometres.

Redistribution

The boundaries of the electorate have been expanded to include Forrestdale, transferred from the old electorate of Southern River. This mainly rural area more than doubles the area of the electorate, up from 39 to 94 square kilometres. The Labor margin falls slightly from 7.1% to 6.6%.

History/Trivia

Armadale has been Labor held since its creation before the 1983 election. It was held for Labor by Bob Pierce until 1993 (he had previously been MP for Gosnells 1977-83), but he chose to retire after being named unfavourably by the WA Inc Royal Commission Report. He was succeeded for one term by Kay Hallahan, moving from the Legislative Council and retiring in 1996. After some initial concern about the retaining seat, MacTiernan won easily with only a 1% against her. The swing to Labor in 2001 was 3.1%, though the Liberal Party did not nominate a candidate, leaving the field to Mayor of Armadale Roger Stubbs running as an Independent.

2-Party Booth Result

Labor majorities recorded in 11 of the 14 booths, ranging from 48.0% at Kelmscott Primary to 66.0% at Gwynne Park Primary in Armadale.